Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

Music and laughter filled the air, but Jamesh’s heart was filled with darkness. He jabbed the shovel into the ground, vigorously ripping up the soil. “He runs away for months,” Jamesh growled, “squa…

I’m in my fifties, and one thing I wish I’d known about God when I was a teenager is that He understands perfectly what it is like to be popular and to be unpopular. Jesus experienced both during His…

In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” I’ve heard of people working on trying to be…

How do you show someone God loves them? One of the best ways is by serving them. As we look out for others and take care of some of their needs, we can point to the God who cares about them. If we’v…

When my two sons were little, I biked all three of us around by pulling them in a small trailer attached to my bicycle. They rode in comfort, safe and shielded from the sun. One afternoon, I pedaled …

Sometimes it feels like everything we do is focused on the future. Many of us spend years in school trying to get good grades, hoping that one day we can get into college. We easily make the mistake …

When you were young, who did you go to for comfort? Who was strong enough to hold you and carry you? Who made you feel the safest? Who made every hurt go away? As we grow older, we lose some of the …

It is surprising how we can be so spiritually blind about certain matters. For a long time, there was an area of my life where I was spiritually blind. For years, I acted contrary to the truth of God…

Sin can be a scary thing. You don’t have to read the Bible for very long to come across passages where God condemns sin. Even as Christians, we fall into sin again and again, and this can make us fee…

When darkness covers the sunshine When I start to feel anything but fine When I’m too worried to be still Be my peace If I fall down and struggle to stand again If I fear too much to begin If I am…

When we exercise regularly, our muscles grow stronger and our whole body becomes healthier. On the other hand, lack of exercise leads to muscle weakness and poor health. It’s like the old saying goes…

Tears fall freely down my face as I stoop to gaze into this hole of death. I came early in the morning because this tomb holds the body of my Lord or did. I let my knees hit the ground at the entranc…

She was tormented by demons. Mary, a woman of Magdalene or so she had once been called. Now she knew herself by a different name: possessed, enslaved, hopeless. She tried to fight the darkness. Coun…

The comm link buzzed. “Osaka Karaoke?” Command Center’s usual check-in code. Sara gave the expected response in a choked whisper, “Apple Osaka Karaoke” (A-OK). What else could she say? They only ch…

Golden sunsets, late-night campfires, cozy flannel blankets, apple picking, pumpkin spice an excited thrill rushes through my veins when that first gust of autumn sweeps over the prairie, leaving gol…

Lord, my head is full of Your beautiful truths. Knowledge about the gospel, Scriptures, the trinity, the sacraments, salvation, and more are packed into my brain, lovingly placed there by pastors and…

Change happens rapidly, in the blink of an eye. Spring, summer, fall, and winter all seem to go so quickly, as time flies by. Nothing seems to stay the same in this world consumed with sin and woe. …

Milestones in our lives, like graduations or birthdays, can stir up wishes for our futures. Excited about a fresh start, we dream about opportunities and make plans. On the other hand, change can als…

When I am afraid, the truths of Scripture demonstrate again and again that I can put my trust in God. In the Bible, God gives us many reassurances of His love and faithfulness. When we are stressed a…